ITAIS Newsletter - June 2020 (Plain Text Version)

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In this issue:
LEADERSHIP UPDATES
•  LETTER FROM THE CHAIR
•  LETTER FROM THE CHAIR-ELECT
•  LETTER FROM THE EDITORS
ARTICLES
•  EVIDENCE FROM AUTHENTIC ITA DISCOURSE AND TOEFL IBT SPEAKING RESPONSES IN SUPPORT OF ITA ASSESSMENT
•  TV CLIPS TO RAISE ITAS' AWARENESS OF BIDIALECTALISM AND THE RHOTIC /R/
•  ITA COURSES DURING COVID-19: A SURVEY ABOUT REMOTE LEARNING (BEFORE, DURING, AND FUTURE)
•  PRESENTING A POSTER SESSION
ABOUT THIS COMMUNITY
•  HISTORY OF ITA INTEREST SECTION
•  CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS FOR ITA-IS NEWSLETTER

LETTER FROM THE CHAIR-ELECT

Stacy Suhadolc, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA

Dear Colleagues,

It is my pleasure to be chair-elect in the International Teaching Assistants Interest Section (ITAIS) for the 2020–2021 period. I have been involved with the ITAIS for several years now. I was a member-at-large for the ITAIS during the 2018–2019 period. Putting together the InterSection session with the ITAIS and the Speech, Pronunciation, and Listening Interest Section, I found myself feeling so proud of what every educator and administrator is doing in their programs. What all of you do is what inspires me to be a better instructor. I have so much respect for what you do and with what—sometimes little—resources that you have.

I am happy to work with both Maria Mendoza and Mo Burke as we navigate these uncharted waters due to the COVID-19 outbreak. What I am already seeing is how resilient everyone is in how we instruct and administer within the ITAIS. For all of us, we have had to shift from in-person classes to online instruction during the middle of the semester. Even assessments have had to be administered online, which pose more challenges for us. I know that more changes will come as we look toward the future, but I am encouraged to see how supportive we are all to one another, which is yet another reason why I love this interest section.

While we didn’t get an opportunity to meet face-to-face during the 2020 TESOL Convention, we did get to see so many of you during our virtual social gathering hosted by our member-at-large, Cynthia DeRoma. It was nice to see so many familiar and new faces. I enjoyed getting to talk not only about work, but also about how you are doing personally. We got to tour each other’s homes and, later, some even took videos of their daily commute to work. This interest section is not only a professional community, but it is also a community where long-term relationships are cultivated through our activities as an interest section.

This interest section is what it is because of the people involved in it. Again, I am so thrilled to be part of it. I know that we will all have our challenges as we shift our programs to online instruction, but I couldn’t have asked to be in a better community during this time.

Thank you,

Stacy Suhadolc